Not Sleeping Well? Blame Your Relationship!

If your partner is keeping you up all night—and not in a sexy way—then it could have something to do with the quality of your relationship. A study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found a link between how secure and happy you feel in your relationship and how well you're sleeping at night.

Before you admonish your partner for snoring or vow to start taking up more of the bed, it doesn't actually have anything to do with their physical presence. Lead author Dr. Emre Selçuk, a developmental and social psychologist at Middle East Technical University in Turkey, emphasizes that it has everything to do with your ~emotions~.

Dr. Selçuk and his fellow researchers surveyed a sample of 698 married or cohabiting adults between the ages of 35 and 86. Using questionnaires, they determined perceived partner responsiveness, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and sleep problems. Additionally, 219 participants took part in a weeklong sleep study by wearing a Mini Mitter Actiwatch 1-64 activity monitor on their wrist for seven consecutive days and nights.

Continue reading below ↓

"Our findings show that individuals with responsive partners experience lower anxiety and arousal, which in turn improves their sleep quality," he said. The best kind of sleep, the researchers say, is restorative sleep, which is a high-quality, uninterrupted snooze that protects us from deteriorations in our health. The only way to reach this quality of sleep is to have your head hit the pillow with feelings of safety and security.

"Having responsive partners who would be available to protect and comfort us should things go wrong is the most effective way for us humans to reduce anxiety, tension, and arousal," Dr. Selçuk continues.

He doesn't stop there. The researchers believe that a responsive partner and better sleep suggests a healthier and longer life overall, so if you were looking for a sign to ditch that fuckboy who's been messing you around, this is it. Now go take a nap.